Golden contribution

Jan. 17 may be considered the most depressing day of the years, but officials at Lakehead University were all smiles Monday morning.

A $235,000 donation from the region’s largest gold mine and the province will do that.

Thunder Bay native Jamie Sokalksy, whose roots at the school go back to its founding fathers, said Barrick Gold gives back to every centre it operates in, and he views Northwestern Ontario as one large community, hence the LU donation.

The donation is multi-faceted, said Sokalsky, the company’s executive vice-president and chief financial officer, and centred around health care and education.

“The health-care component is going to be funding various initiatives at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, new facilities in marathon and also the abilities for scholarships and new technology and also a medical conference in Marathon,” said Sokalsky, whose company owns and operates the nearby Hemlo gold mine, which in 2009 produced 275,000 ounces of gold. 

“Essentially it’s a wide-bearing suite of contributions that are going to make it much more beneficial for students to study and stay in the community of Northwestern Ontario.”

The company has helped create graduate scholarship worth $100,000, with half the money coming from the Ontario Trust for Student Support.

There’s also a $10,000 learners suite in Marathon with exam rooms, offices and study space, plus living quarters for a medical resident; a $15,000 technology upgrade at the Wilson Memorial; a $70,000 student bursary for NOSM students with Marathon roots; a $25,000 recruitment fund to help bring doctors to the northern community and $15,000 to support the medical conference.

“First and foremost it’s related to the fact that in all of the communities we operate we want to contribute … We do this around the world. We do it in North America, South America, Australia and Africa. This is just one component of that,” Sokalsky said.

NOSM founding dean Roger Strasser said the Barrick contribution will help the medical school fulfill its social accountability mandate, which sees students practice clinical learning in communities across the province’s North.

Marathon was a natural consideration for a number of reasons, Strasser said.

“Marathon is one of the very important nodes in the network across Northwestern Ontario,” Strasser said, adding student doctors are routinely taken on a tour of the Hemlo mine, a fond recollection of their time away from the classroom.

“This very generous donation is going to help strengthen the health care and educational abilities and contribute to the health-care retention in the community of Marathon.”

LU president Brian Stevenson, who joked that mining companies should feel free to offer the school a percentage of any gold found in the North, said the $235,000 will help make the school more attractive to students, many of whom might find their way to the mining industries upon completion of their studies.

Lakehead can be the educational thoroughfare to take them there, he added.

“Lakehead is uniquely positioned to offer Northwestern Ontario students advanced training in fields that will benefit the current mining renaissance,” he said. “Barrick Gold is demonstrating real leadership in the field and in the region with this comprehensive gift.”